Former Vice President Cheney introduces former Secretery of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Conservative Political Action conference, on February 10.
By Mark Wilson, Getty ImagesFormer Vice President Cheney introduces former Secretery of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Conservative Political Action conference, on February 10.
"Justice has been done to Osama bin Laden: all Americans are proud of our military, intel & Presidents Bush, Obama. USA! USA!" Rove wrote.Rove was among several former Bush administration members who were magnanimous in giving President Obama credit for the operation.
Former vice president Dick Cheney, critical in the past of Obama's handling of terrorism, told ABC's World News Tonight that the Obama administration "clearly deserves credit for the success of the operation."
But he made clear that Obama's success was the culmination of work that began under Bush.
Cheney and former secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said "enhanced" interrogations at Guantanamo Bay might have helped provide the key intelligence.
Fran Townsend, President George W. Bush's homeland security adviser from 2004 to 2007, told USA TODAY that Obama took a big risk in ordering the raid.
"This was an incredibly difficult, dangerous operation. Even a perfectly planned operation could have gone wrong in a thousand different ways," she said. If it failed, "it wouldn't have been a (CIA Director) Leon Panetta disaster," she said. "It would have been a President Obama disaster."
She took exception to Obama's statement Sunday night that he had instructed Panetta "to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al-Qaeda," shortly after taking office. The implication, she said, is that Bush did not make it a priority. "If that was the suggestion, it was not right," she said.
Bush released a short statement moments after Obama's speech Sunday night, congratulating him and "the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission." He made no mention of work done during his presidency.
"I think the fact he's turning down all media requests speaks volumes ?a great leader, a class act," said his former spokeswoman, Dana Perino.
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